John Rice flagged an article showing that putting games in libraries increases reading. This jibes with a presentation I saw last week at Games Learning & Society – a public librarian started doing game nights and they saw their youth circulation double – for BOOKS. This is going to make several people in my house happy – Mrs. Education Business Blog is a middle school librarian and the EBB spawn are avid gamers and readers.
Danah Boyd shares some meaty insights on status and online behavior for teens. The money quote:
In his book “Geeks, Freaks and Cool Kids,” Murray Milner Jr. suggests that teens’ particular obsession with status is because “they have so little real economic or political power” (2004:4). He argues that hanging out, dating, and mobilizing tokens of popular culture all play a central role in the development and maintenance of peer status. Just as these activities take place in school, they also take place in networked environments.
In a Man Bites Dog article this piece highlights children’s concerns about their parents web habits. Add video game obsessions to the long list of things parents do to ruin their kids lives. Clean the keyboard – yuck.
Continuing in the meme of bad marketing that I’ve been on lately David Armano names several bad habits marketers fall into. Funny and instructive at the same time. My personal favorite – shiny object syndrome. Let me know yours.
Want to have your pre-conceptions about school challenged? David Kirkpatrick compiles a list of provactive questions nobody dares to ask about education. I don’t agree with everything on the list – but it it made me stop and think.
If you come across something interesting in your web perambulations pass them along!